Chinese company Sirius has submitted an official request to Israel's Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority to own control of The Phoenix Holdings Ltd. (TASE: PHOE1;PHOE5) insurance company. This is a major step, which shows the seriousness of Sirius as a buyer, because the request is ahead of the timetable set out in its agreement with Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) to buy the Phoenix.
Sirius is the fifth company to sign a purchase agreement for Phoenix with Delek, controlled by Yitzhak Tshuva. None of the previous four deals came to fruition. So far, Sirius has purchased less than 5% of Delek's shares - the threshold that requires regulatory approval by the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority, headed by Dorit Salinger.
It is six weeks since Delek first spoke of Sirius as "an international company with insurance licenses in the US, Sweden, and the UK."
If regulatory approval is received, Sirius will buy Delek's remaining shares in The Phoenix (42.3%) and will become the controlling shareholder in the Israeli financial services group. Sirius bought its first 4.9% stake of Phoenix, which also controls Excellence Investments Ltd. (TASE: EXCE) for NIS 208 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 2, 2017
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017